Tokyo – Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 index reached a new high on Thursday, boosted by real estate and technology shares, as investors in Asia absorbed the Federal Reserve's recent rate cut.
The index was up 1.13%, led by Resonac Holdings, which rose over 10%, semiconductor maker Screen Holdings, which rose 4.3%, and Kirin Holdings, which rose 4.3%. Japanese chip-related stocks followed on with the advance, with Advantest climbing 3.5% and Tokyo Electron 4.5%. The advance was as the Bank of Japan opened its two-day policy meeting, where most economists expect that it will leave rates unchanged. HSBC economists do expect, however, a possible increase in October that would lift the policy rate to 0.75%.
In other parts of the region, markets reacted variably to the Fed's announcement to lower its benchmark rate by a quarter point while indicating two more cuts later this year. South Korea's Kospi rose 0.96%, while Australia's S&P/ASX 200 dipped 0.51%. In Sydney, shares of Santos plunged more than 11% after a consortium led by Abu Dhabi’s ADNOC abandoned its $18.7 billion takeover bid. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index slipped 0.17% and China’s CSI 300 lost 0.23%.
Asian chipmakers were in focus after reports that China had banned Nvidia’s artificial intelligence chips. South Korea’s SK Hynix jumped 5.5%, Taiwan’s TSMC rose nearly 0.8%, and Samsung Electronics advanced 2%.
U.S. markets closed mixed overnight after the Fed action. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 260 points, or 0.6%, to 46,018.32, an all-time high during the day. The S&P 500 fell 0.1% to 6,600.35 and the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.3% to 22,261.33. Analysts said the rate cut had been expected, but that uncertainty about the Fed's longer-term direction kept investors hesitant.
